1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus equipped with a plurality of storage devices and to a method of controlling the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are storage devices compliant with the serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) standard. Representative examples of such storage devices include hard disk drives (“HDDs”) and solid-state drives (“SSDs”). With the use of a group of information acquisition commands (e.g., IDENTIFY DEVICE command and SMART command) and a group of security commands (e.g., SECURITY SET PASSWORD command and SECURITY UNLOCK command), these storage devices can implement security measures by means of fault prediction for the storage devices and a password.
Furthermore, in order to increase processing speed and improve reliability, a plurality of HDDs or SDDs may be used to apply a technique called redundant arrays of independent disks (RAID), such as striped and mirrored RAIDS.
In a system including a plurality of storage devices as described above, it is required that each of the storage devices be accessible on an individual basis to realize security by means of fault prediction and a password. Now, in a product setup of a storage device, in which an apparatus A is connected to an optional RAID apparatus B, the apparatus A and the apparatus B may be connected via a single SATA-IF (cable) defined by the SATA standard. Moreover, the apparatus B and a plurality of storage devices (e.g., HDDs) may be connected via a plurality of SATA-IFs (cables). In this case, the apparatus A acknowledges the optional RAID apparatus B as one master storage device, and the optional RAID apparatus B controls the plurality of storage devices.
Therefore, the apparatus A, which serves as a host according to the SATA standard, can normally access only the master storage device and cannot access other storage devices. This renders security enhancements by means of fault prediction and a password incomplete.
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-251129 (D1) suggests providing a dedicated communication line separately from the SATA IFs (cables) in a state where the apparatus A and the apparatus B are connected in the above-described manner. Indeed, the technique described in D1 is effective when a real-time performance is required such as for retraction of a head upon detecting a crash of an HDD. The technique described in D1 also enables communication between the apparatus A, the apparatus B, and the plurality of storage devices via the dedicated communication line. This allows acquiring information from each individual storage device and configuring the settings of each individual storage device.
However, when the real-time performance mentioned in D1 is not required, the technique described in D1 gives rise to the problems of a cost increase, complicated control, a troublesome assembly process, and so on, due to the dedicated communication line.